Make your own micro ecosystem!

For me it started with this guy. I wanted a dwarf puffer so I decided to start a tank designed around showcasing him and providing him with everything he needs. This is not a picture of mine, but there will be gifs at the end of my little guy.

Finished product first. I will be going into detail about how I built this, how long it took, and how much it cost. At the end I will also give examples of different critters you could stock in a similar setup.

The tank I will be using is a Fluval Spec 5 gallon, which ran me about $80, but you could probably find it cheaper and there are definitely cheaper 5 gallon starter kits. I got this one because it has a good filter and a decent LED lighting system. You will also probably need a heater, thermometer and light timer. Those items together cost me around $20. Heaters should be 5 watts per gallon of water, so for a five gallon you need a 25 watt heater.

tank: https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-Spec-Aquarium-5-Gallon-Black/dp/B0089E5VLC/ref=sr_1_2?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1498841732&sr=1-2&keywords=fluval+spec

heater: https://www.amazon.com/Watts-Tank-Size-Anti-explosion-Submersible/dp/B01CBBT8PS/ref=sr_1_13?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1498841950&sr=1-13&keywords=25+watt+aquarium+heater

thermometer: https://www.amazon.com/Marina-Floating-Thermometer-Suction-Cup/dp/B0002AQITK/ref=sr_1_4?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1498841981&sr=1-4&keywords=aquarium+thermometer

light timer: https://www.amazon.com/Hour-Timer-Aquarium-Lights-SunGrow/dp/B06XD9GRZ4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1498841895&sr=1-1&keywords=light+timer

With a small tank like this you probably don't want a heater in the middle of it so I wanted to put mine in the pump section of the filter. This is the tube that runs from the pump to the outlet nozzle. I put some small holes along it which performs a dual function of increasing water movement around the heater for better heat distribution and it lowers the flow from the outlet nozzle. Excessive flow can stress out many fish.

Next we need some hardscape. Sorry about the reflections, it's easier to see into the tank when its full and lit up. Hardscape is your substrate, rocks, driftwood and other nonliving decorative elements. The substrate I used is Seachem flourite black clay gravel. It looks nice and it's great for plants. The rocks and driftwood I found on the beach. A lot of people buy driftwood but theres nothing wrong with just grabbing some from outside. Make sure you select pieces with no bark that are hard, not crumbly or soft. Boil your driftwood for at least two hours to sanitize and soak it for about a week to get it waterlogged, otherwise it will float when you fill your tank. Seachem flourite gravel: $10-20 depending on amount and distributor. Natural lake michigan driftwood and rocks: $0

gravel: https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-Flourite-Black-Dark-Gravel/dp/B00GJX0L8S/ref=sr_1_5?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1498842103&sr=1-5&keywords=seachem+flourite

Next we're going to fill the tank with about an inch of water and do some gardening. I will be putting in four different plants that use two different planting methods. The two above are called java fern and anubias nana. These are two excellent, hearty plants that I recommend very highly to everyone trying to start an aquarium, but a lot of people don't know how to plant them. These plants have what is called a rhizome: a branch-like section from which the roots and stems emerge. The rhizome cannot be buried in your substrate. You can tie them with thread to some of your wood or a rock, or do what I did and use superglue. Almost all basic gel superglues are aquarium safe.

Above are my other two plants, dwarf hairgrass and my personal favorite: staurogyne repens. These can simply be buried in the substrate in small sections for optimal coverage. After everything is planted you can fill it up and turn on the filter and lights. Don't forget to condition your water to remove chlorine and other harmful additives. Wait 15 minutes before turning on the heater. I think all my plants together cost about $30.

The next three pictures are the initial placement of all my plants.

The next part is probably the hardest, but in my opinion, the most important. You have to wait awhile to give beneficial bacteria time to establish. Most people just fill a tank with water and throw in some fish right away, but the problem is that fish live in their bathroom. Most fish put in an uncycled tank will literally poison themselves with their own pee and the ones that don't die will be extremely stressed out, causing them to be lethargic, self destructive, and/or lose color.

Here is a basic run down: fish produce amonia. Amonia is extremely toxic to fish. So, you need bacteria that converts amonia to nitrite. However, nitrite is also extremely toxic to fish, so you need bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate is only a little toxic to fish and can be managed with regular water changes up to 50%.

So, you need to introduce some amonia to your environment to bring in the other stuff. You can do this by throwing in some fish food, using a couple drops of pure amonia from your local hardware store, or you can do what I did and just drop a small mealworm in to rot. You can also buy beneficial bacteria at your local fish store to speed up the process, but that's money I didn't feel like spending. I left my tank running empty for one month before adding any critters.

For my light cycle I started with five hours a day and every week added one hour until it was up to 13. It's important to not leave your lights on all the time to avoid algae blooms.

Next, critters. I know you're excited, but it's important not to throw everything in at once. In a bigger tank, water parameters are more stable but in a little tank like this it can take some time for the ecosystem to catch up when adding organisms to the bioload, so I added one group per week. I started with 4 Malaysian Trumpet Snails which quickly became over 100, I'm sure, it's pretty hard to count them. This is not one of mine, as they were all hiding when I took the pictures. I chose this kind of snail because they reproduce, and they're small enough for my dwarf puffer to eat, but they burrow in the substrate during the day so my little guy can't just wipe out their entire population.

The next week I added 3 Amano shrimp. I picked these guys because they're great at cleaning up algae and fish waste and they're spunky enough to deal with some pestering from the dwarf puffer.

The week after that I added two Otocinclus Catfish. Since they're commonly called otos, I was reminded of the show Rocket Power, so I named these guys Beef and Tony Hawk: Pro Skater and BMX Champion. I am absolutely amazed by how much algae these little guys can eat. My tank was nearly spotless after a week.

This is the glass before otos. Bonus Malaysian trumpet snail in the top right corner.

This is the glass after one week. The plants and driftwood are also much cleaner. The tank is now ready to house the fish for which it was created, so let's take a trip to the local fish store.

Obviously, my tank is not big enough for this guy, but he still felt like showing off for me. I kept hearing Jemaine Clement singing "Shiny" while he was dancing.

And here's my special boy. I felt so many things watching him explore his new home. The way he swims reminded me of an underwater hummingbird, so I named him Flit. He's like an adorable cartoon of a fish, and at about 1 inch he is fully grown. The whole process took 2 months from buying the tank to being fully stocked.

"cen i eat dis?"

Some fish keepers will say there isn't really anything you can keep in a 5 gallon tank, and while the tiny dimensions can be limiting there are definitely several options for critters that can happily live in 5 gallons if your water parameters are kept in check. Here is a list of some combinations, you can pick one from each category to assemble your community. I have them ranked from least-most sensitive.

Snails!
-probably as many Malaysian Trumpet Snails as you want within reason (will reproduce)
-probably as many Ramshorn Snails as you want within reason (will reproduce)
-1 Mystery Snail-1 Nerite Snail

Shrimp!
-10 Ghost Shrimp (will reproduce)
-10 Cherry Shrimp (will reproduce)
-2 Bamboo Shrimp
-3 Amano Shrimp
-10 Crystal Red/Black Shrimp (will reproduce)

Fish!
-1 Betta (probably shouldn't go with Cherry or Crystal Red/Black Shrimp)-3 Mosquito Fish (probably only males or females or they could overpopulate) (no heater required)
-3 Guppies (same warning as Mosquito Fish)
-3 Otocinclus Catfish
-2 Dwarf Puffers (can only go with Malaysian Trumpet or Ramshorn Snails and Amano Shrimp)
-2 Otocinclus Catfish and 1 Dwarf Puffer (same warning as the last one)

There may be more, so do your research if there's something else you like. I just wanted to show everyone how cool fish are and how much you can do with even a tiny tank. Fish are beautiful and fascinating and can suffer like any other animal, so don't overcrowd. I hope I helped or inspired some of you guys to start your own little microverses.

Mouse Tax!

I don't have a cat because I have lots of small tasty animals that don't want to die, but this is Wednesday and she's definitely the best mouse in the world so that should count for something. Shes very confused because I took the roof off her house while she was sleeping. At almost two years old she's quite an old lady in mouse years and she deserves all of your love.

Front Page Update: Wow, thanks everyone! It makes me so happy to see how much interest some of you have and to those of you working on your own aquatic projects: I'm glad I could help. I will be doing another post for my next tank which will be a coldwater 10 gallon with a homemade filter but maybe in the meantime I will do something on small animal care and how to make toys and bin cages, since most of the cages marketed for hamsters and the like are acually terrible. Wednesday will definitely be featured prominently! Please send pictures of your fish and other cute critters!